Sex, Lies, and Contraception: The Male Pill

A question was raised recently on the Denialism science blog, and it has all sorts of interesting implications about sexual trust between men and women.

The question: Why don’t they make a birth control pill for men?

My knee-jerk response to this question has always pretty much been, "Because the pharmaceutical industry are a bunch of sexist pigs." But this post -- and the fascinating discussion that follows -- is making me realize that the question is actually a tad more complicated than that.

For starters, it turns out that there are genuine biological reasons why a pill for men is trickier than a pill for women. What with our reproductive systems being different and all.

But that doesn't seem to be the main obstacle. The main obstacle to a male pill seems to be that there simply might not be a big enough market for it.

Which, in all fairness, I can understand.

Because this isn't simply a question of sexist men dumping the responsibility for birth control onto women. It's a question of whether women would be willing to place the responsibility for birth control into the hands of men.

If I were in a trusting, long-term relationship with a man, I might be willing to let him take care of the birth control. But if I were just dating and screwing around, the way I used to in my younger days, there'd be no way I'd trust some guy I'd just met at a party or a nightclub or an orgy, who told me, "Don't worry, baby, I'm on the pill." That's way too big a gamble to leave in the hands of someone I barely know.

Besides, I'd want to use condoms anyway -- since the pill doesn't protect against AIDS or other STIs.

But for exactly this same reason, I think Mark at Denialism may be mistaken. I think there might be a real market for a male contraceptive pill.

And it comes back to my earlier parenthetical remark:

Women are liars, too.

If I were a single guy, dating and screwing around, I wouldn't want to leave the contraception question in the hands of some woman I'd just met, either. I mean, think about it. If, as a woman, I wouldn't trust some strange guy who told me, "Don't worry, baby, I'm on the pill" -- then why on earth should men trust some strange woman to tell them the same thing? The consequences for men of an unwanted pregnancy aren't as intense as they are for women... but they're not negligible. (Can you say, "child support"?)

And I think that might point to the real market for the male pill. (Or patch, or injection, or however the drug winds up getting delivered.)

Mark thinks that, even if pharmaceutical researchers could make it effective, male hormonal contraception will always be a niche market, mainly limited to men in committed long-term relationships with women who trust them enough to leave the contraception in their hands. But while I can see his point, I think he may be overlooking another key market: the market of single men who want control of their own damn reproduction, just as much as women do. I think the biggest market for the male pill might well be single men who want the moral equivalent of a temporary vasectomy: a way to guarantee that they won't get stuck with offspring they didn't expect or want.

In other words -- single men who would want the pill for the exact same reasons single women want it.

The reality is that both women and men have sex with people they don't entirely trust. They have sex with people they trust enough: people they trust not to beat them up, not to steal their car, not to paint their living room hot pink while they sleep. But both women and men have sex with people who they don't trust enough to let them handle the responsibility, and make the decisions, about pregnancy and children. I think plenty of men would be happy to take a pill to ensure that their decisions about pregnancy and children weren’t being made by the hot number they met on Craig's List three weeks ago.

As a single man myself, I can definitely say I sure as fuck would like a male pill for that exact reason, in addition to the fact that (as stated above) two forms of protection against pregnancy are better than one. After all, it's not just a question of trustworthiness, it's also a question of 'Even if this person I want to have sex with *is* on birth control, have they been taking it consistently and correctly?'.

I've actually seriously considered just getting a vasectomy for the above reasons, and hoping that my relative lack of desire to have kids at this point stays true for the rest of my life (or at least until I'm filthy rich enough to shell out the money for vasectomy reversal). I decided it wasn't worth the risk I'd change my mind about kids, but the decision was not by much of a margin.

There'd have to be a market somewhere between the 'single and screwing around' and 'long term comitted sensible couple' too... What about young couples who might be looking for double protection?

I know I can't be trusted to take the damn thing on time, and accordingly I wouldn't want to trust anyone else to take it on time. Two people, two pills: less likely to find yourself unprotected at any time.

"Besides, I'd want to use condoms anyway -- since the pill doesn't protect against AIDS or other STIs."

While I see your point above, wouldn't a man want to use a condom for the same reason as you?

It seems the market for the male pill has just shrunk to men who want control over their reproduction, have sex with women whom they trust enough not to give them an STD, and prefer flesh-on-flesh sex.

My wife is breastfeeding, and therefore can't take the pill. However, breastfeeding is hardly a sure-fire means of contraception, so we use condoms. Since bareback is better than bagged, it'd be nice if I could take a pill so I could shoot blanks for a while, and not have to worry about painting the spare room something fund and juvenile.

There's a scene in the comedy series "Coupling" with the main couple in bed. If I'm remembering right, it's presented in flashback, in a conversation between the main female character and one of her friends about how the leading lady has decided she wants kids.

I am mom to two boys, 16 and 20. I've told them from the get-go that they are responsible for their own sexuality. I do know women who have admitted to "trapping" men through pregnancy (with varying degrees of success), and I've told my boys about that. But even more important than the possiblility of their partners lying to them, at day's end, they are responsible for their own sexuality. Whether a partner is on the pill, has condoms, IUD, etc. etc., is beside the point. I've heard the arguments about no market, and maybe that was true twenty years ago. But not today - and it's time the pharmaceuticals caught up.

I'm a man and I've been in a relationship with for many years. We're done with the having kids thing. The four we have are plenty, neither of us want any more. Neither of us want permanent (or even reversible) surgery to sterilize one of us and my partner doesn't want to take the pill due to the long term health effects. I dislike condoms.

I would be perfectly content to take a male pill assuming that it's side effects weren't too bad.

Hi - I just found your blog 2 days ago via another atheist blog or two and I love it! So many interesting topics.

Anyway, re: this topic - I recently read Margaret Sanger's essay "Birth Control - A Parents' problem or a Woman's?" from Woman and the New Race. She ends this section by saying that it is a woman's issue and always will be and (basically) we should just get used to it. I read this for a feminist theory class and my reply was pretty much what you just said - why would a man want to get stuck anymore than a woman? I don't think her attitude applies to today's world.

Besides, as stated earlier by another commenter, we are all responsible for our own sexuality and reproduction, end of story. Doesn't matter who you are or who you're with.

Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances leading me to get testicular cancer twice, I will always be "shooting blamks". However, before this I would of killed for a male pill, and it is reassuring to know that even if the condom breaks, there's no possibility of an unwanted pregnancy...

A couple of years ago, my wife and I discovered that hormonal birth control was giving her auras (basically migraines without the headache). They make her feel disoriented, she looses the ability to read text, and occasionally can't even understand speech for anything from a few minutes to an hour. Needless to say, we started using condoms instead, but it would be nice for us and any other couple that had this kind of medical reaction if there was an option for the other partner to take on the task instead.

Nice post!
I'm biased on this issue:
I'm childfree. I got a vasectomy back
in 1988, and I view that as the single
best decision that I ever made.
More options are always better, and a
male pill would be a good option to have.
Note, though, that the combination of
storing frozen sperm and a vasectomy has
the same effect, exploits technologies
that already work, and doesn't have the
inevitable safety questions of long
term medications.

I'm something of an anomaly, but I can't swallow pills without gagging/puking. Not even the itty bitty birth control ones. I know it's mostly a psychological issue, I know I could go to a therapist and fix it most likely (if I could afford it), but honestly it hasn't been a huge deal so far. I get liquid/kid's versions of OTC medications and pharmacies can always compound liquid versions of stuff.

If there was a birth control pill for men, you can be damn sure my husband and I would use it. He can swallow pills without a problem, so that would take the burden off me.

As a man, I would be strongly interested in a male birth control pill. I know I want kids someday, but I sure as heck don't want them now. When I do want them, I want them conceived through love and passion, not an artificial insemination. Call me old fashioned, but it is what it is.

Since I'm not in a committed relationship now, my sex life sucks. Not for lack of opportunity, but for the simple fact I have found extremely few people I trust enough to actually be on the pill, and not try to screw me over by getting pregnant on purpose. Call me cynical, but it is what it is.

If I had the opportunity to take a pill for men as reliable as the female version, you bet I would!